He was simply “The Man.” Stanley Frank Musial made a name for himself as one of baseball’s best hitters of all time on the field, as well as one of its greatest, most dignified ambassadors off it. And now “Stan the Man” is gone.

‘Stellar slugging outfielder’

Musial died at his Ladue, Missouri, home surrounded by family, the Cardinals said in a statement. According to a post on his Twitter page, which is maintained by his grandson Brian Musial Schwarze, Musial died at 5:45 p.m. (6:45 p.m. ET) Saturday of natural causes. He was 92.

The Pennsylvania-born Musial transitioned from a lackluster pitcher to a stellar slugging outfielder, according to his biography on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s . The left-hander had a batting average above .300 17 times during his 22-year career — all played with St. Louis — and earned three National League Most Valuable Player awards as well as three World Series titles. The only blip came in 1945, in the thick of World War II, when he left baseball to join the U.S. Navy.

‘Baseball’s perfect warrior’

After the 1963 season, Musial retired with a .331 career batting average and as the National League’s career leader in RBI, games played, runs scored, hits and doubles.He has since been surpassed in some of those categories, but he still ranks fourth in baseball history in total hits, behind only Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron. He also stood out for his grace and sportsmanship — having never been ejected once by an umpire. In his retirement ceremony, then-Major League Commissioner Ford Frick referred to Musial as “baseball’s perfect warrior, baseball’s perfect knight.”

Lillian, Musial’s wife of 71 years, died last May — a longlasting marriage that some people, online, called as admirable as anything that happened on the diamond.

Are you a fan of the late Stan “The Man” Musial? Do you agree that he was indeed “baseball’s perfect knight”?

Apparent death threats were sent the way of Warpaint Clothing, the company that humorlessly put the Lakers and Thunder duds together in a shirt — utilizing the former Seattle SuperSonics logo along the way. As a result, Warpaint has decided to stop selling the shirts because of death threats sent its way in reaction.

Warpaint, through its Twitter feed, didn’t exactly acquit itself well in attempting to defend the shirts it decided to print. From KIRO TV:

A few hours later, the company seemed to take a more conciliatory tone: “So much hate in the world. No disrespect meant. We appreciate where our team came from actually. Put your energy into something positive.”

And later: “We r (sic) saying thank you for such a great organization. We truly appreciate and respect the city of sea (sic).”

Finally, the company said it was dropping the shirt from its : “After receiving death threats we have decided to take the shirt down offline. Sorry if we offended you Seattle.”

The shrugged shoulder approach doesn’t work, here.

This doesn’t fall directly in line with Miami Heat fans snarkily “thanking” Detroit Pistons backers for giving them the chance to draft Dwyane Wade, or your grandfather “thanking” his brother-in-law from Chicago because his Cubs sent Lou Brock down to St. Louis. This was an entire team that left town, and four years removed, the former Seattle SuperSonics have gone from amongst the worst in the West to a championship contender. This hurts an entire community on a far greater level than your typical, “sporting” taunt.

Death threats? Pretty stupid, Some Dudes From Seattle. This T-shirt? Pretty awful, Some Dudes From Oklahoma City. This can be the end of this particular strain of tactlessness, right? Share your comments with us!